Some schools compare foreign students among their national peers ???

nhelpn

I heard that some schools compare international applicants only among their national peers ??? Is it true???
Thanks.

cannedpineapple

No. While there is certainly some comparison, I think you'll find this is more context-based, since there are different career and academic prospects as well as expectations, for a person depending on his/her surroundings.

To say this 'only' happens among national peers is however certainly wrong.

nhelpn

Thank you, Jelt. But do you think some schools will take nationality into account to ensure "diversity" ?

cannedpineapple

Diversity comes from a difference of mindset and opinion. This comes from many factors- educational background, cultural background, professional background, socio-economic background, to name a few. It cannot simply be reduced to 'nationality'.

The numbers for each country tend to look the same from year to year because the number of talented people that apply tends to remain fairly constant. Don't forget, even as China is rapidly developing, so are areas like Brazil, Vietnam, South Africa... Rather than just looking at each in isolation, schools look at them together. After all, one Donald Trump at Wharton is far more useful to us- regardless of where the next Donald Trump is from.

Besides, what in the world does "nationality" mean? At Wharton, apparently, >50% of the students were international. Well, many of these "international students" had spent >10 years in the US. They really didn't seem that 'diverse' to me.

While we're talking about pools, why stop at Nationality? Some may argue that a BCG consultant in China is more rightfully compared to a BCG consultant in Brazil...

This is such a complex issue (as I hope I've made clear) that at the end of the day, schools just don't bother. They just take the best they can, and with the law of large numbers, that tends to make out for a good balance, since talent is not concentrated in any one industry or geography.

nhelpn

Thank you so much, jelt.